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Traditional methods of software development include the Waterfall model, the V model and Rational Unified Process (RUP). In businesses today, these traditional methods are being replaced more and more by a more modern process – Agile method. This post will look at reasons as to why traditional methods may no longer be applicable in modern businesses.

1. High costs and wasted budgets

Traditional methods can be quite costly and often 64% of the budgets spent on developing these methods is wasted on developing features that may not be used or required by the customer. This is certainly a major concern for businesses given the current economice climate.

2. Unproductive?

During the development process there can be large disconnects between thew customer (the business) and the engineer. Usually the engineers put in place the structure of the software first and only then, implement system features needed by the business second. This can create delays in the development process.

3. Changes difficult and costly

Traditional methods, in particular the Waterfall model, can be very rigid to change. Progress may have to be brought back to much earlier stages, again meaning a wastage of money and resources.

4. Management Bottlenecks

Traditional software development projects require rigorous approvals. Therefore management time can be wasted during these as many managers approvals are required. This translates to project delays on top of management delays.

5. Lack of transperancy

While those overseeing software development projects are often inundated with numerous status reports, frequently they have little to no insight into real progress. This is because it relates to working software features and functionality, not to business productivity.

To summarise, traditional methods often lack productivity, flexibility, and can result in delays, inificiencies and wastage. It is these draw backs that have seen a decline in the number of companies using traditional methods, instead turning towards modern methods such as Agile. Thanks for reading🙂